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News The following largely unconfirmed records have appeared in recent Bulletins of the African Bird Club and are for information only. During field work in three National Forests, North Lorma in the north-west, Gola in the west and Grebo in the east, from 19 November to 11 December 2005, some noteworthy records were made. Olive Ibis Bostrychia olivacea was found in North Lorma; the species is not mentioned for the Wologizi area by Gatter (1997, Birds of Liberia). A Spot-breasted Ibis Bostrychia rara flew over the village of Jalipo, Grebo, on 7 and 11 December. A melanistic Black Sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus was seen in Gola; although this is a widespread forest resident in Liberia, it had not previously been recorded in at this site. A Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus was seen at Monrovia on 14 December; this species is mapped only for the north of the country by Gatter (1997). Two groups of White-breasted Guineafowl Agelastes meleagrides were encountered in Grebo Forest. Also in Grebo, Black-collared Lovebird Agapornis swindernianus was observed at two locations; Gatter (1997) mentions that it is a very rare or extinct resident in Liberia. Gola and Grebo constituted new localities for Cassin’s Honeybird Prodotiscus insignis, whereas Yellow-footed Honeyguide Melignomon eisentrauti was recorded at North Lorma. A male Cardinal Woodpecker Dendropicos fuscescens was seen well at Voinjama on 26 November; only one previous record, from 1984 near Bawomai, is mentioned by Gatter (1997). Up to 25 Fanti Saw-wings Psalidoprocne obscura, four Lesser Striped Swallows Hirundo abyssinica, a pair of Plain-backed Pipits Anthus leucophrys and a Black-winged Oriole Oriolus nigripennis were observed at Fishtown, near Grebo, on 11-12 December; these species were not previously mapped for the area. A colony of Preuss’s Cliff Swallows Hirundo preussi numbering c.100 nests was found at Voinjama; this species is said to be a rare (dry-season?) visitor by Gatter (1997). A Western Wattled Cuckoo-Shrike Lobotos lobatus was seen within a mixed-species flock in Grebo. A singing Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat Cossypha cyanocampter observed near Jalipo, Grebo, on 11 December, with another at Fishtown the next day, were not previously mapped for the area. A pair of Black-headed Rufous Warblers Bathmocercus cerviniventris was found near a small stream at Luyema, North Lorma. Up to three Western Olivaceous Warblers Hippolais (pallida) opaca were observed in detail in a clearing in Gola, on 27 November-3 December; this is a new locality for this Palearctic migrant, for which there are apparently only two previous records. In the same clearing, a pair of Short-winged Cisticolas Cisticola brachypterus was singing; this species was apparently known only from coastal and northern savannas. Black-capped Apalis Apalis nigriceps was common in Grebo, which constitutes a new locality, and five singing Nimba Flycatchers Melaenornis annamarulae were also found there. A singing Grey-throated Tit-Flycatcher Myioparus griseigularis was seen at Gola and another at Jalipo, Grebo; this species was previously recorded only from Yekapa / Nimba. Grey Tit-Flycatcher M. plumbeus was found singing at Luyema and in a nearby clearing, North Lorma, on 19 November, and in a clearing in Gola on 27 November-3 December; the only records mentioned by Gatter (1997) are two collected in 1891 near Monrovia. In Gola, a pair of Bioko Batis Batis poensis was observed at their nest, which contained two feathered nestlings on 3 December; this is a new locality for this species, of which very few nests have ever been found. A large rock with 20 nests of White-necked Picathartes Picathartes gymnocephalus was located inside Grebo Forest. A single and a pair of Lagden’s Bush-Shrikes Malaconotus lagdeni were observed in mixed bird parties in Grebo. Two pairs of the endangered Gola Malimbe Malimbus ballmanni, each with a juvenile, were foraging with mixed-species flocks in Gola Forest. On March 5, 2005, an estimated 2,100 Black Terns Chlidonias niger and 1,100 Royal Terns Sterna maxima were sighted at the Lofa river mouth in Bomi County about 20 km west of Monrovia. These were the highest counts of the species at a single site. On March 4, 2005, an Egyptian Plover Pluvianus aegyptius, a vagrant to Liberia, was sighted along a coastal lagoon near Robertsport, a coastal town about 72 km west of Monrovia. For the first time in Liberia on February 24, 2005, Preuss's Cliff Swallow Hirundo preussi was sighted on the coast, breeding under the Du River Bridge that links Roberts International Airport to the Firestone Plantation Company. The only record of the species by Wulf Gatter was in Voinjama in the north-west and Mt. Nimba in the north of the country. In December 2004, the endangered species Gola Malimbe Malimbus ballmanni was sighted at the north-east end of the Sapo National Park in Sinoe County. The two birds were seen nesting in a mature secondary forest about 1km away from the boundary line of the park. As a mark of appreciation and guarantee that the site will be protected, the head of the Site Support Group in the area who guided the assessment team named his boy child Malimbe after the bird. The child was born on the same day the birds were sighted. |
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